Tolls Update: Millions Could Be Heading To These CT Towns

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration unveiled its comprehensive $21 billion CT 2030 transportation infrastructure plan Thursday that includes upgrades to highways, trains and airports. The funding would come from tolls on 14 bridges, low-interest federal loans and other sources.

“For generations, the state has neglected critical investments in our infrastructure, hampering economic growth and leaving residents in endless hours of traffic wondering why state officials didn’t fix these problems years ago,” Lamont said.

There isn’t a guarantee that Connecticut would get the federal loans, but Lamont said the state stands no chance without his plan.

The state launched the CT 2030 website Thursday that provides an explanation of the proposed projects, costs and funding.

Lamont is proposing that tolling start in 2023 with 40 percent of the costs being shouldered by out-of-state drivers. The base rates would be 50 cents to a dollar for cars, $1.25 to $2.50 for mid-sized trucks and $3.50 to $7 for heavy trucks. The base rate is what an out-of-state driver with an EZ-Pass would pay. Connecticut EZ-Pass users would get 20 percent off those prices.

Anyone with an EZ-Pass wouldn’t pay more than one round-trip user fee per gantry.

Collected toll money would go to pay for the costs of improvements on specific projects and five percent of collected toll money would go to the hosting municipality and would be earmarked for infrastructure improvements.

A major sticking point for legislative Republicans is that the proposal includes tolls. House Republican Leader Themis Klarides said that there may be some room for Republicans to work with Lamont on the plan, but they are still staunchly against any tolls and think $21 billion is too much over 10 years.

“I think it is much better thought through than the previous plans… I think there is common ground we can find with the plan that is coming out today,” she said.

She worried that tolls like the state income tax wouldn’t be temporary, especially with a $2.5 billion state budget deficit coming up.

“There has never been a revenue stream in this state that has been taken away,” she said.

Lamont said that the Republican Prioritize Progress plan to use bonding money to pay for transportation upgrades likely wouldn’t fly with federal transportation authorities who like states to have a constant revenue stream when they issue loans. He said he is committed to trying to make the 2030 plan bipartisan.

Some members of the business community spoke in favor of Lamont’s plan. Real estate investment executive Darrell Harvey said that it is difficult to retain employees in Fairfield County because they eventually get fed up with the long commutes.

“We cannot come up as business guys with a better way of financing these types of improvements… the best financing you can get is from the federal government,” Harvey said. “...the way you get that is with a sustainable stream of income, I know that hurts but that’s the best way to fix the foundation of this state.”

Companies have been complaining about long commutes for the past 20 years, said Joe McGee the vice president of the Business Council of Fairfield County. He added that at this point there are no other funding options outside of what Lamont is proposing.

“Think about this generationally, this is our future,” he said.

Highways

The pitched highway projects include many bottlenecks on I-95, I-84, I-91 and Route 15 along with some other highways. The projected most expensive project would upgrades to the Gold Star Bridge with a projected cost between $300 million and $415 million. The total cost being allocated to roads and bridges is $14 billion.

The state has studied the issue of congestion on highways and has found that adding lanes wouldn’t help, but alleviating traffic choke points would go a long way in improving commute times, Lamont said.

Towns that host a toll gantry would get five percent of the collected tolls to help with their own infrastructure projects. The amounts below are annual projections.

Trains

Lamont is also pitching several upgrades for mass transit including $6.2 billion in rail upgrades, including upgrades to the Metro North line that would cut commute times by 10-15 minutes between New Haven and Stamford over the next four years.

If all pitched projects are completed the trip from New Haven to Grand Central would be reduced to an hour and 20 minutes.

Track expansion on the Hartford Line could allow for trains to reach speeds of up to 110 mph at certain points in the trip. It also calls for new stations in Enfield and Windsor Locks.

The plan also calls for 4G and eventually 5G signal boosting in rail cars to allow for consistent service and fewer dropped calls.

Airports

Lamont’s administration pitched a tram that would connect Bradley International Airport with the Hartford Line.

The plan also calls to transform Tweed New Haven or Sikorsky Memorial airports into a regional airport with 30 daily flights and connections to other forms of public transit.